


Mermans

by iloveitblue



Series: Prompts [355]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 08:52:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6188104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iloveitblue/pseuds/iloveitblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Phil is a merman and Clint isn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mermans

**Author's Note:**

> “You’re here again.”

Clint almost fell off the dock when he heard the voice. When he turned around to confront the jerk that almost made him fall to his icy death though there was no one there. “What the-”

“I’m down here.”

Clint frowned, thinking he might be starting to hear things, but went down on all fours to peer under the dock. True enough, there was someone there. “What are you doing down there?” Clint asked. The water was not warm, Clint knew at least that.

The person swam out into the open, revealing himself. “I live here.”

“You live under the docks?”

The person shrugged. “What are you doing here? You’ve been here every night for the past week.”

Clint shrugged back. “I always come here when my parents start yelling at each other.”

The stranger hummed. Clint was silently thankful that he didn’t ask him to elaborate on the subject. He didn’t really feel like talking about it.

“I’m Clint, by the way.”

“I’m Phil.”

“So… You live under the docks. What’s that like?” Clint asked conversationally, lying down on his stomach on the edge of the docks.

“As good as you’d think. I live alone, so that’s cool, I guess.”

Clint hummed. “Must be nice. You not having to listen to people yelling at each other, having a place all to yourself.”

“I get lonely sometimes too.” Phil told him honestly.

“Yeah, but you have me now. I’ll make sure you aren’t lonely.” Clint declared proudly.

Phil had laughed then.

—

“You’re not as horrible as my kind led me to believe you were.” Clint had said that night he found out about Phil’s tail.

“My kind has said worse tales about yours, I’m sure.” Phil rolled his eyes. “My friends told me once that humans kill each other because of land.”

“Well…”

“It’s true?”

“Every war is started because of something. Granted, not every war was started for a good reason, but usually its started with a fight on who gets the land. The land is where people get things in order to live, so it’s understandable to fight over it. It’s survival, you know? Human nature.” Clint explained.

“What about the story about your kind burning your females when they have wronged you?” Phil asked.

“That one’s a little outdated. We don’t do that anymore. And it wasn’t every time they wronged us. It was just when she was accused of being a witch. What about you guys? Do you really lure men to their death and eat their flesh?”

“Ew, no. Although, I think I know why you guys think that. My aunt, she lives somewhere in the Atlantic, had a summer romance kind of thing with this human, and her father was against it but she wanted to be with him no matter what. So she lured him into the water, thinking he could breathe. Turns out there was a reason you guys needed your boats.”

“That’s some messed up Little Mermaid shit right there… No eating of the flesh though, right?”

“Nope.”

“What about the thing where you guys lure boats into rocks with your melodious voices?”

“I can’t sing.”

“Well, talk about anticlimactic.”

“Your kind isn’t as evil as I thought they were.”

Clint grinned. “You just have to weed out the crazy ones and Back at ya.”

—

“Clint, what happened to your face?” Phil asked worriedly as Clint plopped himself down on the dock.

“It’s nothing.” Clint waved the concern away and tried for a smile, but he winced when the fresh bruise on his cheek complained.

“It’s not nothing. Tell me what happened.” Phil demanded.

“My father just got a little too drunk and I was stupid enough to think I could take him on. Really, it’s nothing.”

“Oh Clint.” Phil wanted nothing more than to help his friend, but what could he do? He didn’t have powers like the media have led you to believe. He was just Phil.

“Let’s talk about something else, yeah?” Clint tried for a more cheerful tone.

“They can’t keep treating you like this, Clint.”

“They can, and they will.” Clint said glumly. “They’re family. It’s what they do.”

“Not if you don’t let them.” Phil said with finality.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying you should run away.”

“Run away? Where would I even go?”

Phil hadn’t really thought about that. He only thought that Clint needed to leave the poison he called his family. “With me.” He answered before his mind could catch up with his mouth.

“What?”

“Leave them. Leave your family and go with me. We could leave this place and never return.” Once Phil started talking, he couldn’t stop. Where were these words even coming from?

“You want me, someone who can’t swim, to go with you, a merman, to God knows where? I’ll drown.”

“I won’t let you.” Phil answered with conviction. “I’ll never let you drown. Trust me.”

Clint took a deep breath and turned around. Just as Phil thought he was leaving, Clint ran back towards the edge of the dock and jumped off, the lunatic. Phil was frozen in shock for a moment, before he remembered that the fucking lunatic can’t swim so his flailing was probably not faking. Phil raced to him and held him up and above the water.

“You’re crazy! Why the hell did you jump?” Phil asked him.

“You told me to jump!” Clint answered in between coughing out water.

Phil’s mind was racing. They’ve known each other for years now, but this was actually the first time they’ve touched. Clint was warm despite the cold of the sea. His eyes were bluer than water, if that was even possible. And his cheeks were slightly red, giving Phil something to look at besides his equally red lips.

“What?” Clint asked. He’s long since calmed down, and Phil was barely holding him up now. He’s a natural born swimmer, then.

“Nothing. I just- This is the first time we touched.” Phil pointed out.

“I- huh. You’re right.” Clint pondered. He lifted his hand, and cradled Phil’s cheek. “I’ve always wanted to do this.” He leaned in, eating the already small space between them, and hesitated just when their lips were about to touch. Phil had to close the gap between them, but it wasn’t a hardship, really.

When they parted, Phil was grinning, and Clint could only go so far as to smile, but he was happy just the same. “Me too.” Phil whispered.

“Where do we go now?”

“Anywhere we want.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Here on tumblr](http://promptmephlint.tumblr.com/post/140640647761/im-sick-sick-of-the-system-fucking-me-over)


End file.
